


always see your face

by elisabethsdoppler



Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Trigger Warning: Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25893505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisabethsdoppler/pseuds/elisabethsdoppler
Summary: Shortly after the birth of Bartosz’s second child, Franziska and Magnus look back on their relationship and question the morality of their friend.
Relationships: Bartosz Tiedemann/Silja Tiedemann, Franziska Doppler & Bartosz Tiedemann, Franziska Doppler & Silja Tiedemann, Franziska Doppler/Magnus Nielsen, Noah | Hanno Tauber & Bartosz Tiedemann
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	always see your face

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning: mentions of miscarriage 
> 
> the scene between Bartosz and Franziska is heavily inspired by a scene in @roseharker9’s story To Build A Home! Go check it out, it’s beautifully written.

Franziska liked having Hanno around. It’s not that Magnus doesn’t, he just didn’t expect to see her with children. It had been Hanno’s seventh birthday yesterday, and Magnus and Franziska had made him a cake. it wasn’t a cake by 21st century standards, more of a large muffin, but Hanno had been so excited. Bartosz had never done anything special for Hanno, and now that Silja was gone, he really only had Magnus and Franziska.

It was strange seeing his wife seem so joyful. Over the years they had accepted the fact that they would probably be stuck here for the rest of their lives, but he knew that Franziska longed for her life before all of this. It was nice to see a glimpse of her old self. She sat across from Hanno on the rug in front of their fireplace, telling him a story about his mother. Hanno giggled when she explained how lovestruck Bartosz looked when he first saw her, and Franziska fake swooned in an attempt to make Hanno laugh. He did, reaching his chubby hands to hold on to hers.

Franziska looked up at Magnus, her eyes sparkling with joy. He smiled back, and glanced to Hanno, who was fiddling with Franziska’s wedding ring.

“Did my mama have one of these?” Hanno asked quietly. Franziska’s smile slipped away.

“Yes she did. Your papa gave it to her when they got married, before they had you.”

“Do you think I’ll get married?” Hanno asked, his big blue eyes gazing up at her.

“Of course, my darling boy,” Franziska exclaimed, reaching to pull Hanno into her arms. “One day you will meet someone you love very much, and she will love you just as much, and you two will be very happy.”

“Do you know who I will marry?” Hanno asks.

“No, but you mama did,” Franziska replies, stroking Hanno’s hair. “Your mama never told me who it was, but she said that you would be together for a long time,”

Franziska pressed a kiss to Hanno’s forehead, glancing up at Magnus again. He walked toward them and sat down on the rug.

“It’s getting late, we should probably bring you home to your papa and Agnes soon,’ Magnus quietly said, reaching out a hand to comb Hanno‘s hair from his forehead. Hanno nodded, letting Magnus help him up, and clinging to his hand. Franziska got up as well, and got their coats. She had tensed up at the mention of Bartosz, but she knew that Hanno had to be brought to his home.

It was pouring outside, and Franziska and Magnus let Hanno spin and jump in as many puddles as he’d like. Bartosz’s apartment was only a short walk away, and soon they found themselves on the porch. The door was unlocked, like it always was. Hanno’s father was sitting at the table, staring blankly at the wall in front of him.

Magnus ruffled Hanno’s hair. “Run along and go to sleep. It’s late,”

Hanno nodded, and Franziska bent down to give him a kiss on the cheek. Hanno smiled and kissed her cheek as well, and then quietly slipped up the stairs. Both Magnus and Franziska waited until they heard the door to the bedroom shut, and until they couldn’t hear Hanno padding around the room to check on Agnes.

Franziska turns to Bartosz, her expression one Magnus has seen her give Bartosz many times. “He’s just a fucking child, you idiot! How can you treat him this way?” she yells.

Bartosz doesn’t acknowledge her, just continues staring at the wall. “Just leave, Franziska ,”

“Your family needs you, your children need you. Silja would be ashamed of you!” she shrieks. Magnus tries to place a comforting hand on her arm, but she bats it away, still absolutely livid at Bartosz. “Do you honestly think she would be okay with you treating her children like shit?”

“You don’t know who he is,”Bartosz responds coldly and quietly, his back still turned to them. “Silja would understand if she saw who Hanno becomes,” Magnus shivers at the tone that Bartosz talked about his son with. Magnus would have never spoken of his children in that way, if he had them.

“I know him better than you do!” Franziska screams. She slams her hand on the table, trying to make Bartosz turn to face her.

Bartosz is seething with rage. Magnus is starting to fill with rage too, his judgement clouded by the way Bartosz speaks to his wife, at the way he speaks about that sweet little boy.

“You know him how he is now" Bartosz says slowly “But if you had seen him, really seen him, you… you would look at him differently too.”

Franziska is speechless, furious, but whenever she tries to shout at Bartosz no words come out. Her eyes fill with tears.

“What kind of man speaks about his son this way?” Magnus utters, as he reaches out to calm Franziska. This time she leans into his touch.

“The kind of man who has seen this sweet little boy as an adult ,” Bartosz says simply. “If you knew what he turns out to be, you would look at him the same way Ido.” He stands, glaring at Franziska and exiting the room quickly.

Franziska collapses into the nearest chair, putting her head in her hands, trying her hardest not to cry. Magnus kneels next to her, taking her hands in his.

“I hate that man,” she speaks, her face almost eerily calm despite the tears.

“I know.” Magnus says simply, reaching a hand to gently cup her cheek. Franziska closes her eyes, leaning into his touch.

Franziska had wished for children of her own long before Hanno was born. He knew that Franziska missed her family terribly, and he knew she wanted a family of her own. She had spoken to him about it on their wedding night. Franziska had said she wanted to have three girls. Magnus had laughed, and told her he hoped that they had a least one son, so they could name him Mikkel.

‘Fine!’ Franziska had conceded, ‘three girls and a boy,’

Magnus had told her he hoped their babies got her red hair. She had laughed at that, throwing her head back.

Not long after that, they thought they had got their wish. Magnus didn’t like to think about what happened.

For a long time it had been hard for Magnus to look at her face without seeing her face all those years ago, tears spilling out of her eyes, her hand trying to stop the bleeding between her legs.

That horrible night had been almost 10 years ago, 3 years before Hanno was born. Magnus remembers her trembling hands shaking him awake, he remembers her saying that it’s too early, that she couldn’t do it, that she didn’t want to die. He remembers her begging him not to let her die. Magnus had refused to leave her, his hands trying to stop the bleeding and try to remain comforting and calm. He remembers the noise waking Silja and Bartosz, who ran to find the doctor. Magnus remembers his hands being slick from the blood of his wife and unborn child, trying desperately to calm her.

He remembers when the doctor arrived, and Magnus had clutched Franziska’s cold hand and refused to let go. He remembers the doctor having to perform some kind of surgery, but he doesn’t remember what it was. He only remembers Franziska, and how absolutely devastated she had looked. Her eyes had been hollow, as if someone had taken a piece of her soul away.

For nearly two weeks after, Franziska didn’t move. She didn’t speak. she laid on their bed, quietly crying, her hand hovering over the bandages on her abdomen. She had lost the child, and the doctor said it wouldn’t be safe for her to have another. Magnus had sat next to her for days. He felt as though his heart had completely shattered. He simply sat, and willed that she would live. That she would be able to smile again.

Magnus knew how much it hurt Franziska to see Bartosz with a child. To see him treat that child in such a disgraceful manner. She had admitted to him a little after Hanno’s fourth birthday, that she wished Hanno was their child. That she could be able to love and care for him every day, instead of leaving him to sleep under the roof of the man she hated most in the world.

Franziska had started weeping, and Magnus gently pulled her into his arms. His hand came up to stroke her hair, attempting to soothe her.

“It’s alright,” Magnus softly spoke, stroking her back in an attempt to calm her down. “It’s all going to be okay,”

“Who could Hanno possibly grow up to be? And what if Bartosz treating him this way is what causes him to be that way?” Franziska mumbled into Magnus’s shoulder. He didn’t know what to say. He knew that all of them were basically trapped in eternal hell, so it was likely that something worse would happen to Hanno.

“I don’t know,” Magnus said. “But Hanno knows that you love him. That we love him. He knows we could never hate him, and we’ve been better parents to him than Bartosz has.” Franziska raised her head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes.

Franziska nodded, her eyes watery. “I miss Silja. She made Bartosz so much more … bearable.” Magnus had chuckled lowly at that.

“She is in paradise waiting for us,” he said, “And when we see her again, she will thank you for being another mother to her son.”


End file.
